The Ninth Principle of a Free Society: To protect man’s rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law.

Rights, though endowed by God as inalienable prerogatives, could not remain unalienable unless they were protected as enforceable rights under a code of divinely proclaimed law. William Blackstone pointed out that the Creator is not only omnipotent (all-powerful), “… but as He is also a Being of infinite wisdom. He has laid down only such laws as were founded in those relations of justice, that existed in the nature of things … These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all His dispensations conforms; and which He has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions. Such, among others, are these principles: that we should live honestly, should hurt nobody, and should render to everyone his due.

In recent years the universal emphasis on “rights” has seriously obscured the unalienable duties imposed upon mankind by divine law. As Thomas Jefferson said, man “has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.”There are two kinds of duties—public and private. Public duties relate to public morality and are usually supported by local or state ordinances which can be enforced by the police power of the state. Private duties are those which exist between the individual and his Creator. These are called principles of private morality.

The Creator revealed a divine law of criminal justice which is far superior to any kind being generally followed in the world today. This is a most important element of God’s revealed law, and let us therefore emphasize it again even though we discussed it earlier. It will be recalled that God’s revealed law provided true “justice” by requiring the criminal to completely restore the property he had stolen or to otherwise pay the damages for losses he had caused. It was the law of “reparation”—repairing the damage. In addition, the criminal had to pay his victim punitive damages for all the trouble he had caused. This was also to remind him not to do it again. This system of justice through reparation was practiced by the ancient Israelites and also the Anglo-Saxons. In recent years a number of states have begun to adopt the “reparation” system. This requires the judge to call in the victim and consult with him or her before passing sentence. This discussion includes the possibility of the criminal’s working to pay back the damages he caused his victim.